In a conventional table processing apparatus incorporated in a computer system or the like, which has a function of forming a table in units of cells, the types of data input to the cells constituting the table are limited to two: numerical and character data. If numerical or character data (cell data) is to be mixed with another type of data (e.g., image or sound data) in the table, the latter type of data is expressed in a data structure and is managed by a managing method which are different from those of the cell data.
For example, an operation of editing normal cell data is restricted within cell frames. On the other hand, in the case of expressing image data in a table, an arbitrary region irrespective of cell frames is set as an image data frame, and an operation of pasting desired image data in the image data frame is required. In this case, the image data frame and the image data are processed by the data structure and managed by the managing method which are different from those for processing numerical and character cell data of the table.
The conventional table processing apparatus described above has the following drawbacks. To incorporate data other than numerical or character data (e.g., image or sound data) in a table, the data must be is processed by the data structure and managed by the managing method which are different from those for processing numerical and character cell data. Therefore, for example, to edit cell data when image data or sound data is incorporated in the table, it is difficult for the user to understand an operation for the above purpose due to the difference between the operations for processing the numerical or character data and image or sound data, and the operation procedures are complicated.
Thus, the operation of treating image data and sound data in the tabling process is complex, resulting in low operability of the table processing apparatus.